Elon Musk’s brain implant startup Neuralink Corp. forced an employee to work with monkeys carrying the herpes B virus that scratched her, according to a complaint filed in California court on Friday. Bare skin.
The employee, Lindsay Short, said that after she was transferred to the company’s Fremont, California, factory in August 2022, she encountered “a work environment full of blame, shame, and impossible deadlines.” She said she was later fired after telling her supervisor she was pregnant.
Short sued the company for retaliation, wrongful termination and gender-based discrimination, among other issues.
Neuralink did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
The startup’s device is in the early stages of clinical trials and is designed to restore function to paralyzed patients. Arizona man Noland Arbaugh recently underwent surgery to become the first human patient to have the device implanted. Abo, a quadriplegic, can now successfully play video games using only his thoughts.
The company has also been criticized in the past for mistreating monkeys and other animals, including performing botched surgeries while conducting research on monkeys raised at the University of California, Davis. It has since moved the monkey research to its own facilities.
Short said she was working with monkeys carrying the herpes B virus when she was cut by a glove. She accused the company of failing to provide proper protective gear for working with monkeys. In another incident, a monkey scratched her face after she was forced to perform a procedure she was unfamiliar with. When she insisted on receiving treatment, her boss threatened “serious consequences” if it happened again, the lawsuit says.
In the lawsuit, Short also said Neuralink failed to deliver on its promise to provide her family with flexible hours and demoted her in May 2023, two months after her promotion.
The next month, she told Neuralink’s human resources department that she was pregnant. Short was fired the next day, according to the lawsuit, which the company said was due to performance issues.
